New Year's Day with the BAU Family
by lavenderlife
Summary: Pretty short. Longest one yet, though, I think... The whole team is featured evenly. Hotch gives an inspiring speech at the end. :)


The restaurant was bursting at the seams with people, milling about on New Year's Eve. In the center of the room lay a large table set for seven. At the table sat agents Garcia, Morgan, Hotchner, Reid, Jareau, Prentiss, and Rossi, although tonight, they were not agents, but friends.

"I still can't believe that on our one week off guaranteed, to celebrate a new year and a new start, we chose to attend a crappy Mandarin buffet at the end of our vacation after wasting ours at home watching T.V." Rossi mused, shooting look at Garcia. "I could have bought you all trips to exotic beaches and five star hotels!"

"Hey! You watch your mouth about this place!" Garcia put her hands gently down on the table and stroked the table cloth. "This place is specialer than any other place money could buy. Twenty Garcia bucks to the one who can guess why." She grinned. "Any ideas, my little vanilla cake?"

Everyone turned to Reid, who was still hunched over his half eaten pork loin. Derek, who was sitting beside Reid snorted and poked him in the side. Reid half-shrieked-half-giggled and then clamped his hands over his mouth, his face turning a shade of pink. Then he turned and glared at Morgan. "Hey, don't look at me, 'Vanilla cake'. Garcia wants an answer." Morgan pushed Reid's head toward Garcia.

Reid scowled and turned his head down, flushing a deeper shade of pink. "I know..." He muttered. "I was thinking."

"Oh my gosh! Reid? Thinking?" Emily said in mock surprise. "I never would have guessed!" The whole table laughed, and even Aaron cracked a smile.

"Alright people, enough low blows on poor little Spence." Jennifer said.

"Oh look, its mommy to the rescue again!" said Emily, and Reid blushed even harder.

Rossi laughed. "Wow Reid, red is actually a very nice color on you. Brings out your eyes." Derek, who had taken pity on poor Reid, signaled the waiter.

"Red wine for everyone?" He asked.

Everyone nodded, except Reid.

"Could you order me some jello?" He asked quietly. "I'm doing this thing where I don't drink, because my body isn't used to alcohol consumption, and I could get sick, or get some sort of bug, not to mention getting drunk, and oh god, I've heard about those hangovers, and apparently they hurt a lot and-"

"Wait, Hold-up Pretty boy." Derek interrupted Reid. " You've never had a hangover?" Spencer looked up at Derek, and then around at the rest of his co-workers, who had fallen silent.

"Well...I don't...I just didn't want..." he stammered out.

Derek grinned. "Okay, pretty boy. Keep your panties on, it was just a question." Morgan smiled and turned to the waiter. "Seven- Sorry, six red wines and a jello." The waiter jotted down something in her notepad, then looked up, scrunching her eyebrows together in confusion.

"I'm sorry..." She looked around at everybody at the table. "We only offer jello to our 12-and-under guests... Could I get you some juice?"

Morgan flashed his best flirty smile, and replied, "Hey babe, could you make and exception? My friend here..." He glanced around and leaned towards the waiter. "He's an alcoholic..." He said quietly. The waitresses eyes widened. "I, I'm sorry, I didn't..."

"S'okay, babe, don't worry about it." Morgan gave her a quick pat on the shoulder and turned back to his teammates. Everybody fell silent, but as soon as the waiter was out, Garcia started giggling. Then Prentiss, then JJ. Then the remaining members,

"What?" Reid asked.

The whole team looked his way for the second time that hour.

"What's so funny? Why are you laughing at me? What did Derek say to her?"

Aaron smiled. "I didn't know you were an alcoholic, Spencer. Funny, didn't I hear you'd never had a hangover, though?"

"But..." Reid looked absolutely bewildered. Then he pouted, in the way that only he could pull it off at twenty six.

The whole table giggled, and Reid's face turned a shade of red that you'd think was only possible for a tomato. He dropped his head once more, picking up a chopstick and poking a dumpling. The drinks arrived, along with jello in a wine glass. Reid lifted his head, smiled, and thanked the waiter, before finally answering Garcia.

"The reason this place is so special is because we're all here together." He said, then dropped his head again. Each of the people at the table took a moment to contemplate this, then began to engage in each other again.

Morgan and JJ gave up trying to get Reid to talk with them, and knowing he'd speak when he wasn't feeling as embarrassed,they turned their attention to all the other members. Reid eventually tuned in to the voices, and then joined in, allowing words to wash over him, flow through his head, his mind, his heart. He smiled, as he looked around at his friends, his family, and his contagious sense of belonging caught on, until all the team members felt the same warmth radiating from somewhere in-between the seven.

Aaron lifted his drink. All fell silent, knowing that he would capture this wonderful moment with just the right words. He smiled, and that warmness and sense of belonging and righteousness filled his eyes. He looked around at everyone, then opened his mouth.

"Sometimes, I stand in my apartment, alone, thinking of my son, my wife, and the feeling of emptiness is so heavy, I feel I could collapse. I start to wonder why I chose this as my life. I bet we all do." He paused for a moment, and met everybody's eyes openly and honestly.

"Sometimes, I wish I could scream. I start to wonder, 'Why did I choose to do this?'. But then, we finish a case, and I look at all the families, the victims, the survivors, and I remember why. It's because all those survivors, all those victims who didn't make it out, all the families who were affected by what happened, they get closure. They get an end. A better end. And when they do, we do too."

The agent paused once more, this time, pushing his glass towards the middle of the table. Garcia stood and pushed hers to his, followed by JJ, then Prentiss. Soon, The whole team is standing, their glasses pushed against one another. There was a small ring running through the air, but instead of dying out, it got louder in their ears, pulsing, like a heartbeat.

The warmth raced through them, out towards their fingertips, coursing through each other. Through the touching of half filled glasses of wine, they become connected. Aaron's last words slip into the glasses, through their fingers, down their arms, into their hearts. The words were;

"And when I get a better end, I don't feel so empty anymore."


End file.
